CHAPTER TWENTY
Danica
After over an hour of more brainstorming, and Gabrielle handing out to-do lists to everyone, Tom took his leave of us and headed home.
“Tomorrow, bella. Come with me to the bakery to meet with the Sewing Sisters.”
“Sewing Circle,” I said, my arms around his neck as he pressed me against his truck when I walked him to his vehicle to say goodbye.
“Si, Sewing Circle. You can introduce me to Katurah Katz. I am very interested in knowing what she knows of Erin’s family.”
“I’m sure she—and the others—will know plenty.”
He kissed me again, tightening his grip on my waist. I moaned a little when he slid his tongue into my mouth and tilted his head to deepen the kiss.
I’d never been kissed like that before, and the lightheadedness I got from it was addictive.
Time both stood still and went at warp speed as we got lost in each other, making out like teenagers.
“All right, you two,” came the deep, amused rumble of Jagger as gravel crunched under his shoes behind us. “Either climb in the back of the cab, or keep your hands where I can see them. There are impressionable children inside.”
Tom peeled away from me and chuckled awkwardly. “Buona notte, bella.” Then, he gave me one more kiss and stepped back so I could move away from the driver’s side door of his truck and he could get in.
“You didn’t have to stop,” Jagger said, opening the door of his truck.
“Just be aware that you might have an audience.” He pointed to Gabrielle’s living room window where, sure enough, several little heads hung over the back of the couch spying on us.
One of those heads belonged to my daughter, and she was wearing the biggest smile.
I smacked my palm against my forehead. “Shit.”
“Gotta be better at hiding your canoodling than that, ya noobs.” Jagger laughed as he swung his lumberjack of a frame behind the steering wheel. “See you two later.”
We gave him a wave, and he reversed out of the wide driveway, giving a honk on his horn as he turned onto the road.
I met Tom’s gaze in the dark, his chiseled features illuminated by the porch light to the left. “Thank you for coming to dinner. I know it wasn’t easy at first.”
“Having you by my side made it easier, bella. Grazie for your patience.”
I smiled and glanced away from his handsome, shadowy face. “Everyone really likes you. Naomi wants to marry you just because of your bread.”
He snorted. “She is beautiful, but I have eyes for another.”
A flutter in my belly made me bite my bottom lip and move my gaze to the ground.
He stepped into my space and tipped my chin up with his finger, holding onto it so I was forced to look at him. “I will come get you tomorrow around eleven.”
“Okay,” I squeaked.
“Sleep well, bella.”
“You too.”
Then he pressed another kiss to my mouth, leaving me a puddle of desire that could barely stay standing as I watched him climb into his truck and drive away.
Just like Jagger did, he gave a little toot of his horn as he turned onto the road.
I stood there until his taillights were no longer visible, then with a swoony maiden’s sigh, I headed inside the house—only to be greeted by a chorus of “Ooooooohs” from the children and my cousins.
My cheeks caught fire.
I missed him immediately.
I missed his arm around my waist, his hand in mine, and his lips—warm and soft—against my own.
“Danica and Tommaso sitting in a tree,” Naomi sang as she sat at Gabrielle’s dining room table with Raina, Maverick, and Gabrielle, spinning her index finger around the rim of her wineglass. “Took you long enough to say goodbye.”
I glared at her, then lifted my gaze to my daughter in the living room. “Sam, ready to go?”
My kid pouted. “Can I sleepover again with Laurel? Honor is going to stay too.”
I glanced at Naomi and Gabrielle. They both shrugged.
“Fine by me,” Gabrielle said.
“Me too,” Naomi replied.
Was it too late for me to text Tom and tell him to take me with him? Would that make me seem desperate?
It was like my cousins could read my mind the way their mouths slowly curled into knowing smiles.
“I mean, you could,” Raina said.
“Could what?” Sam asked.
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “Your aunt is just being … annoying.”
“Or helpful,” Raina added. “It’s all about perspective.” She lifted her eyebrows and took a sip of her wine.
“Anyway,” I said, covering my mouth as I yawned, “I’m going to head to bed.” I went and kissed the top of Sam’s head. “See you in the morning, my darling.”
“Are we going back over to Tom’s tomorrow?” she asked.
“He and I are going to Let it Rise in the morning, but I don’t think he’ll have a problem if you want to go back and visit Raven and Midnight.”
“Raven is like the sweetest, gentlest horse—animal—I’ve ever met,” Sam told her cousins. “I love her. She is being such a good mom to Midnight.”
“Are you and Tommaso dating like my mom and Maverick?” Laurel asked me, sitting still on the floor while Honor braided her thick, wavy, brown hair into two plaits.
Honor was great at braiding for a ten-year-old.
It was honestly crazy how good she was. She loved watching tutorial videos and then using her cousins as guinea pigs.
Apparently, she wanted to be a hairdresser when she grew up.
“Yeah, Danica, are you and Tommaso dating like Gabs and Mav?” Naomi echoed, smirking.
I shot her a glare over my shoulder, but all she did was grin at me. I focused back on Laurel. “Tom and I have feelings for each other. We are spending more time together to see if we’d like to become more than friends.”
“And kissing a lot too,” Marco, Raina’s son—added. “We saw you guys. How could you even breathe?”
“And on that note,” I said, my entire body on fire, “I bid you all buona notte.” I spun on my heel and headed toward the door.
“He’s got her speaking Italian already,” Raina said. “I’d say they’re dating.”
Several of them laughed, but I didn’t dignify them with a response. I just took my burning body and my sexual frustration upstairs to my carriage house apartment, where not even a cold shower could erase the throbbing need between my legs.
I couldn’t even go to Tom’s if I wanted to though. I’d had too much wine and definitely shouldn’t have been driving.
It wasn’t that late, but there wasn’t much else to do.
So I tucked myself into bed, grabbed my book from my nightstand and tried to read.
But I must have read the same paragraph eight times, and I still had no idea what it said, because my mind kept drifting back to this morning.
Waking up in Tom’s arms … and tonight, kissing him against his truck …
It’d only been a week that I’d known the man, and yet, it didn’t feel that way.
I wanted him like I’d never wanted anything—or anyone—before.
He made me feel safe, and cherished, desired and cared for.
He also really listened to me when I spoke, something that felt as surreal to me—especially when it came to older men—as the abominable snowman or bigfoot.
Men didn’t listen to women. We were their property.
We were to be seen and not heard, just like children.
We had no say in the household or in society.
Our husband’s word was law, and we were to be dutiful, law-abiding wives—or suffer the consequences.
I learned quickly, after the first night Rufus came home drunker than a sailor on leave, to just keep my head down and not say a word. I didn’t leave the house for a week after that as I didn’t want anybody to see my black eye or the fingerprint-shaped bruises around my neck.
But Tom never manhandled me. And he didn’t abuse alcohol. I also just didn’t get the abusive-partner vibe from him. Neither did my cousins. Because at this point, we all had pretty much spot-on abuser radar, and the alarms were silent for all of us when it came to Tom.
With a deep sigh that I felt all the way down to my toes, I set my book down and closed it. I wasn’t going to retain any information tonight. Reading was the last thing on my mind.
Grabbing my phone from my nightstand, I disconnected it from the charger and started to arbitrarily scroll without really thinking about what my eyes focused on.
Until a message popped up.
A message from … Tom.
A thrill raced through me, settling into a pleasant tingle in my lower belly and between my legs.
Grazie, bella. I was nervous to come meet your family, but they are as beautiful as you are.
Thank you all for the warm welcome. The wonderful company, the delicious food, and the offer of help to a stranger.
Even though we are going to the bakery for a purpose, I would like to also consider it our second date if that is okay with you?
I grinned so freaking wide and did a happy little shimmy as I re-read the message.
Finally, I responded.
I know you were nervous, but I greatly appreciate you coming. They all loved you. And I am very much looking forward to our second date. Sam is sleeping over at her cousins’ again, so I’m already in bed.
Should I add that I’m alone?
I wasn’t bold enough to do that, so I just watched those three cheeky little dots bounce and waited for his reply to come through.
Ah, bella. I wish I could be there and hold you like last night. Sleep well. May your dreams be beautiful.
My dreams were surely going to be about him and the way he kissed. I already knew it.
I “hearted” his comment, then wished him a goodnight before setting my phone back on my nightstand.
Unlike my cousins, who were all quite a bit more brazen than me, and had no problem discussing certain aspects of intimacy in our safe little foursome, I was shy when it came to all things sex.
Raina, Naomi, and Gabrielle all chatted about vibrators and orgasms and that kind of stuff while I just sat there quietly sipping my wine, not saying a word.
Had I ever had an orgasm?
No.
No, I hadn’t.